Elliott Erwitt - Biography

Elliott Erwitt (b. 26 July 1928 Paris, France) is an advertising and documentary photographer known for his black and white candid shots of ironic and absurd situations within everyday settings— a master of Henri Cartier-Bresson's "decisive moment".

Early life

In 1939, at the age of ten, Erwitt's family, of Russian origin, emigrated to the United States. Erwitt studied photography and filmmaking at Los Angeles City College and the New School for Social Research, finishing his education in 1950.

Photography career

Born in Paris of Jewish-Russian immigrant parents, Erwitt served as a photographer's assistant in the 1950s in the United States Army while stationed in France and Germany. Erwitt was influenced by his meeting the famous photographers, Edward Steichen, Robert Capa and Roy Stryker. Stryker, the former Director of the Farm Security Administration's photography department, hired Erwitt to work on a photography project for the Standard Oil Company. Erwitt then began a freelance photographer career and produced work for Collier's, Look, Life and Holiday ==magazine..== Joining the Magnum Photos agency in 1953 allowed Erwitt to shoot photography projects around the world.

Filmmaking career

Since the 1970s, he has devoted much of his energy toward movies. His feature films, television commercials, and documentary films include "Arthur Penn: the Director" (1970), Beauty Knows No Pain (1971), Red, White and Bluegrass (1973) and the prize-winning Glassmakers of Herat, Afghanistan (1977). He was, as well, credited as Camera Operator for "Gimme Shelter" (1970), Still Photographer for Bob Dylan: No Direction Home (2005), and provided Addition Photography for "Get Yer Ya Ya's Out (2009). [1]

Notable photographs

• USA, New York City, 1946 - Streetlevel shot comparing the size of a woman's feet to a sweatered chihuahua.
• USA, North Carolina, Segregated Water Fountains, 1950.
• USA, New York City, 1953 - Image of Erwitt's wife looking at their baby on a bed lit by window light.
• USA, NYC, Felix, Gladys, and Rover, 1974 - Image of a woman's booted feet between that of a Great Dane's legs and a little chihuahua.
• USSR, Russia, Moscow, Nikita Khrushchev and Richard Nixon, 1959 - Powerful Cold War image in which Nixon is poking his index finger at Khrushchev's suit lapel.
• USA, California, 1955 - Image of a side-view mirror of an automobile parked facing a beach sunset, with a playful couple shown in the mirror as the focal point.

Books

• Photographs and Anti-Photographs, 1972.
• Observations on American Architecture, 1972.
• Elliott Erwitt: The Private Experience. (In the series "Masters of Contemporary Photography", text by Sean Callahan.) Los Angeles: Petersen, 1974. ISBN 0-8227-0070-0 Sean Callahan describes and to some extent explains Erwitt's work.
• Son of Bitch, 1974. Photographs of dogs.
• Recent Developments, 1978.
• Personal Exposures. 1988.
• On the Beach, 1991.
• To The Dogs, 1992.
• The Angel Tree, 1993.
• Between the Sexes, 1994.
• 100+1 Elliott Erwitt, 1997.
• Dog Dogs, 1998 A collection of black and white photographs of dogs Erwitt was intrigued by throughout his world travels.
• Museum Watching, 1999.
• Snaps. London & New York: Phaidon, 2001. ISBN 0-7148-4150-1 A large anthology (over 500 pages) of Erwitt's work.
• EE 60/60, 2002.
• Elliott Erwitt's Handbook, 2002.
• Woof, 2005.
• Elliott Erwitt's Rome:teNeues Publishing, 2009
• Elliott Erwitt's New York:teNeues Publishing,', 2009
• The Art of Andre S. Solidor aka Elliott Erwitt, 2010
• Elliott Erwitt Personal Best, 2010

External links

• Elliott Erwitt official site requires Flash
• Magnum Photos portfolio
• Robert Koch Gallery portfolio
• "Elliott Erwitt at the Museo di Roma," Financial Times (London), November 20 2009
• Peter Conrad, Elliott Erwitt's law of intended consequences, The Observer, 20 February 2011
• ' NY Times article about the exhibition May to August at the ICP, New York City
• Elliott Erwitt's Personal Best eBook, 2011